Capitalism Vs Caste? Are you frigging kidding me?

Capitalism vs. caste. Something is amiss. Since when did capitalism start caring about abolition of caste? Why is it that we find communal disharmony and casteism flourishing in the so called financial capital of our country, Mumbai, where the hardcore right wing Shiv Sena had rallied against the “outsiders” from Bihar and Jharkhand? The same is the case with the “Shining Gujarat”, which is touted by capitalists far and wide as the model of development.

India is a de facto capitalist country, with its headquarters in Delhi, no matter what color of jersey those in positions of power are wearing – they have been following neo liberal policies since the early 90′s. From giving outrageous tax cuts to handing over natural resources almost free of cost [unless you count the enormous social cost of environmental degradation and unfair distribution, causing harm to habitats and communities etc] to amending labor and environmental laws so as to benefit the capitalists, almost everything in India is the “baap ka sampatti” of the capitalists. And yet, has casteism truly worn away? And is capitalism as a system trying to fight it? A little investigation will reveal the truth.

Let’s take the case of the educational institutes like AIIMS and IITs which produce the most promising servants of capitalism. One of the country’s biggest anti reservation movements often originate with great vigor and passion from these “centers of excellence”. There is even a group named “Youth for Equality” emanating from these centers, which are anything but egalitarian, as those who ask for the same rules for people standing at different lengths from the starting line are not asking for a level platform.

Before you start feeling sorry, these aren’t activists fighting for a just cause: these are medical students of “Youth for Equality” movement.

The following picture actually explains it quite well. The so called lower castes have been exploited for many years, and though reservation or quotas may not be a solution, to be opposed to the same will be even more detrimental and cause hindrance to them getting mainstream induction.

Farcical Equality

We see Gurukuls or highly patriarchal schools which promote Brahminism and hence casteism getting more and more popular. As an example, ITC [the major corporate house] has one, what capitalists call “Corporate Social Responsibility” project, Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata. There, the guru-shishya parampara, or the highly feudal, brahmanist culture of education is promoted. So where the heck is capitalism fighting casteism exactly? Sanskritization and Hinduization is being attempted in more ways than one. They call India Bharat Mata but the underlying concept is that the woman of the house should be eternally condemned to domestic slavery.

Crappy Guru Shishya Parampara tradition – brahmanist, casteist, patriarchal, hierarchical, repressive, feudal

Take the case of any firm. Who does all the menial work? Take the municipality or other casual laborers in general in the society, which runs under a capitalist economy. Still today, untouchability has not been abolished. Manual scavenging is still rampant. It only helps capitalists that casteism and patriarchy flourishes in India. This is because they get to exploit differentially [read more] using this age old tradition or rather monstrosity.

In Bihar, UP, Jharkhand or Chattisgarh, how are the so called lower castes and adivasis treated? How much value are their lives given? Don’t the authorities know that the Ranvir Senas and Bajrang Dals are raping the women and burning the houses of the “underprivileged” castes? Where is the justice to all these victims of casteism?

Following the death of Ranvir Sena Leader Brahmeshwar Singh Mukhia, the group behind massacres of Dalits like Bathani Tola carnage, riots were instigated by the right wing extremists

And as for the dalits who serve capitalism, the likes of A. Raja. Since when did he help fight casteism? What capitalist trashy mainstream media deliberately convolutes is they will present some “charity” as fighting social evils. Just like CSR can’t remove poverty, charity can’t help remove casteism.

Caught in the CrossFire

‘We die when we take sides and we die even when we decide to stay neutral’.

These are the exact words of a villager of Sindhesur village in Gadchiroli.

A massive police encounter followed by a Maoist counter attack had claimed the lives of two villagers apart from 4 Maoists and 1 cop. Not too long ago, a Maoist ambush had left several cops dead when a hidden IED or improvised explosive device had gone off. In that case, several villagers had complained that the cops were using them as shields. These aren’t isolated cases at all, as such allegations have been made about both Maoists and cops earlier as well, whether by villagers, cops or by’ neutral observers’. The security forces as well as Maoists exchange blames and the ordinary villagers, often from the lowest rungs of the social order, find themselves getting caught in the cross fire, quite literally.

So what is the solution? Who is really to blame?

 The answer to this question is not to be found in some superficial who did what sort of fact finding. Of course it is possible that in some cases the Maoists used some villagers as shields, although they have denied this allegation. It is quite possible that the rebels execute villagers too often merely on suspicion of being police informers. On the other hand, living in constant fear, not to mention abject poverty can really drive the poor villagers to sometimes take the sides of the cops. But none of this leads us to a satisfactory explanation of the situation.

 The reason is pretty straight forward , so far the analysis has only been skin deep. We haven’t yet brought into consideration socio economic and political reasons that led to the growth of the so called left wing extrimism in the first place. Take the case of what Neutral observations like Samarendra Das’sarticle and this blog, Moonchasing or even Red Sun: Travels in Naxalite Country: Sudeep Chakravarti. They are not overtly Maoist sympathizers, but they also acknowledge how the state machinery exploits using the police and paramilitary. If you look at the geographic distribution of naxalite infestation (that’s the way mainstream media puts it anyway) you will find they are in the poorest of eastern states in the country. Not only that, the rulers are more than willing to hand over the natural resources to big corporate houses even if it is at the cost of environmental damage and loss of natural habitat for the thousands of villagers, most of them adivasis.

 The adivasi and dalit struggle has been a long one, in the states of bihar, orissa, chattisgarh. If the state wouldn’t have pushed the inhabitants of the land to big companies like Vedanta and Tata, much to the detriment of the adivasis, with their sub machine gun armed goons terrorizing the villagers, then perhaps such “Extremism” would not have thrived!

 What happened in Chattisgarh in the name of countering the Maoist violence is well known. The SPOs or Special Police officers formed what is (in)famously known as Salwa Judum, which went so out of hand that human rights organizations like PUCL started to raise a hue and cry over it, and quite legitimately so. Women found themselves caught between the SPOs and Maoists in the worst ways possible, since rape was used as a tool of intimidation often.

Nandigram, Singur, Kudankulam, Jangalmahal, Kalinganagar, Niyamgiri Hills, Dantewada, Posco site all stand testimony among others to the monstrosity that the state machinery can unleash in the face of slightest opposition to their regressive decisions of forceful land acquisitions and harmful projects.

What we as citizens must realize is that for a genuine solution, the answer lies in not just finding faults with the rebels but actually understanding their predicament and working towards establishing a more just state of affairs.

Caste discrimination – a thing of the past? Reality says otherwise.

To those who say that caste no longer matters and that casteism is a thing of the past, the following news scoops should really be of particular significance:

The study team, which had taken up 370 cases registered under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act of 1989, last year alone, 106 figured on physical assaults and clash against the Dalits in different parts of Tamil Nadu. This apart, crimes grievous in nature and heinous ones accounted for 28 cases. Torching of dwellings stood at 36, executive director A. Kathir said.

Of course it is not just Tamil Nadu but other states also where caste is still very much an important part of everyday life. From making small school children of so called lower castes to not only sit away from the rest of the class (as shown in this documentary called India Untouched) but also clean toilets, to repressing and humiliating the dalits and OBCs in every way possible is part of the means of exploitation by the upper castes.

Often we hear the notorious and much dreaded upper castes gangs or militia like Ranvir Sena making brutal attacks on Dalits and their villages – hacking them, raping the women and setting their houses on fire. It is a sure shot way of propagating the intimidation. As without fear, there is no subordination, and without that, there will be protest against exploitation.

The police and other wings of the state machinery are, not surprisingly, in cahoots with these unscrupulous elements. Not only that, they actually play an active role in exploiting the lower castes.

And yet, we see such massive protests against reservations and quotas, by those who claim that “merit” will not be given priority. Perhaps they should think that for this “merit” they required certain material conditions which most of the dalits and OBCs have never had the privilege of enjoying.

Here are some recent incidents of violence and fear mongering tactics employed by the upper caste hooligans:

From Dalit woman’s family alleges foul play

Discontent is rife in Mandai village in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district, where a dalit woman activist from the Mushahar caste, the most impoverished among dalits, was found ‘murdered.’ She was a member of the Janwadi Mahila Samiti. The victim’s family and village women, who bathed her body, claim that she was gang-raped, going by the injuries on her body.

And another:

After attack, Dalits here still get threats

“The group was led by Mulayam Yadav and Satyendra Singh. They came with rifles and started abusing us, saying ‘How dare you do the Holika dahan before us?’ A few youngsters had done it what could we do. We tried to flee and they started attacking the women. Some of them caught hold of Ramni Devi and threw her to the ground. They set fire to Lalo Devi’s hair,” said Chitranjan Ram, who runs a Public Distribution System.

“The next day, we went to the police station but they sent us back saying this was the village’s internal matter and refused to register an FIR. The next day we met the Assistant Superintendent of Police in Chatarpur, 20 km away. He said he would ask the station officer to take action but nothing happened. The men in Barbaag still come and threaten us,” Chitranjan Ram said.